T.N. cadre IAS officer appointed as Additional Secretary in PMO

S. Gopalakrishnan has been shifted from Ministry of Electronics and IT

S. Gopalakrishnan, a 1991 batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Mr. Gopalakrishnan has been moved from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology where he has been replaced by Rajendra Kumar, another Tamil Nadu cadre officer of the 1992 batch, who was earlier appointed as the Director-General of the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

Another officer inducted into the PMO is C Sridhar, a 2001 batch IAS of Bihar cadre and currently serving in central deputation as deputy director in the IAS training academy in Mussoorie. He has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the PMO.

Meera Mohanty, a 2005 batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, has also been inducted into the PMO as Director from the Cabinet Secretariat. She has been replaced by Smita Sarangi, a 2008 batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre, who is Deputy Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training.

In another key appointment, Arun Singhal, a 1987 batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as CEO of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in the rank and pay of Secretary of India.

The latest reshuffle of bureaucrats included 16 senior officials at the level of Joint Secretary in various departments. Notable among them are R. Jaya, an IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Vipin Kumar, a Bihar-cadre officer, as Joint Secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, Maharashtra-cadre officer V. Radha as Joint Secretary in the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, and Alaknanda Dayal, Punjab-cadre officer, as Joint Secretary in the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.